Gearology…….

The old garage building at Nelson Ghost Town, Nelson, Nevada.

Robert posted a comment about the 100-400 Review and it said; “Seems like you’re rapidly approaching the weight issues for which you initially switched away from Nikon!”  My response, “You Think!!!???”   Yes Robert, you are right, but I need to explain that I am still fighting and beating the weight limit!  Quick history lesson, in 2010 I had rotator cuff surgery that left me unable to carry the big full frame Nikon gear that I had used for many years (40 +!!!!)  My search to something lighter led me to the Fuji X System  I fell in love with them and that brings me up to today!  The original reason for going to mirror-less and Fuji was weight, but I never gave up on quality, both unfortunately and gladly, Fuji kept coming-out with more great bodies and lots and lots of great lenses, well I bought them all, well most of them, and now I’m up to a lot of gear weight again, so what to do!!!???

If I travel by air I  have to just take what I think I will need keep the total weight to under 20 pounds.  If I travel by car, and I do as often as a I can, I can take all the gear I want! I now divide my gear into several smaller bags so no one bag exceeds my self imposed weight limit of 20 pounds. Even when I get on location I rarely walk more than 100 yards from the vehicle, (I’m suffering from degenerative back disease),  and I don’t take full bags of gear, but usually a photo vest with a few lenses. Here is my current bag set up.

The Major Bag ( Tamrac’s New Anvil Slim 15 ), filled with my most often used zoom lenses, the 60mm Macro, the auto extension tubes and two X-T1 bodies.  The contents of this bag can allow me to do almost anything I need to do in a general assignment. (20.5 lbs.)

The Fast Prime Bag (Lowe Pro’s Flipside Sport 10L  AW ), filled with my favorite fast prime lenses from Fuji, they are;  14mm f 2.8, 16mm f 1.4, 23mm f 1.4, 35mm f 1.4, 56mm f 1.2 and the incredible 90mm f 2, I also have a Fuji XT-10 in the bag as well.  (9 lbs.)

The last equipment bag is my Rangefinder Bag.  I love the Fuji X100T and the Fuji’s compact X30 and so these two cameras and extra batteries reside in a Think Tank Retrospective 5 shoulder bag.  (5 lbs.)

Lastly I have what I call my Support Bag, it is a Red Oxx Heavy Duty Shave Kit bag, filled with the following;  A Watson Battery Charger that charges two Fuji batteries at once and tells there state of charge with a nice LCD panel on the front panel, extra plates for the X100T and X30 batteries, a pair of multi allen wrench tools, a mini AC outlet strip for hotel rooms and my charging station, also included in the bag, but not shown are a set of tools and small socket wrench set with various heads, Swiss Army Knife and multi tool.  In the car will also be my Really Right Stuff Tripod and BH-55 LR ballhead.

So the Big Question; “Do you really need all that???!!!”  Of course not!  I could go in the field with one body, 10-24, 18-55 ( the small one), and the older 55-200 and shoot almost anything I need to shoot, maybe throw in a diopter to get close with the 55-200, so why carry all this????  It’s fun, I own it, I bought it, and if it is left at home, it’s totally useless. If you are in Arches National Park and you reach for your 16mm f 1.4 to make a shot, only it can help you make, and it’s at home, well you get the point.  Every lens in these bags has a special purpose and when you are in the situation that require that lens,  if you don’t have that lens with you, you don’t have that lens with you, and you can’t make that exact shot you planned.

I don’t carry all of this more than twice a day, from the hotel to the car, and then back into the hotel at the end of a shooting day!  On my first big road trip for the year in early March I will take a group down Route 66 and then over to Nelson Ghost Town the Neon Museum in Las Vegas and then some us are going on to Arches/Canyonlands National Parks.  My goal is to put all this stuff to use on that two and half week trip.  Stay tuned and see how it goes!

Thanks for coming along with me on this journey!

Blessings,

the pilgrim